June 15/02 10:30 am - Norba #2 XC: Gears Racing Report

Alpine Valley Resort in Wisonsin was the venue for the second NORBA. With very unstable weather, the elements were a force to be reckoned with. The course had a lot of rolling singletrack, most of which made up of clay. Needless to say moisture would make things pretty slick. We had storms for the last few days, so the pits were the stage of a lot of shop talk among racers and mechanics. What type of tires would you run, how much pressure, fork setup, hardtail, dual suspension ? Everyone seemed to have their own opinion on the proper bike setup.

In the women's race, Alyson Dunlap won by a pretty large margin ahead of Chrissy Redden. Alyson Sydor was fourth. My Gears teammates both had good rides, with Kiara Bisaro finishing in 9th position and Trish Sinclair in 12th. That was a best-ever NORBA result for Kiara, who impressed more than a few with her skill on the bike in the sketchy sections.

Good work from the Gears women put a bit of pressure on us guys to come up with the goods in our own race. I was feeling pretty good and hoping for a top 10 placing. A flat tire in Big Bear meant I wasn't starting from an ideal position, and a poor start did little to help me in that regard. I was stuck in what is commonly refered to as "the smoking section" for the first lap or so. In the meantime, things were looking all too familiar at the front, with Roland Green taking control of the race. He went on to win ahead of an impressive Jeremy Horgan Kobelski.

Other canadians fared pretty well too. Geoff Kabush was third. Semus McGrath came in 5th, even though he said he wasn't feeling too hot at all. Peter Wedge grabbed 7th place, a solid ride indeed and his best result in a while. I battled through traffic to come up to 13th place, with 10th barely a minute away. Close, but no cigar. Dr Dre and Shep were 16th and 17th, both saying "the tank ran out of fuel". Ricky Federeau placed 19th, and was really happy with his ride. My other Gears teammate Julian Hine was around 28th place.

The race was quite long and I have pretty battered legs today. But it's time to get back in the saddle for another leg crushing short track race today at 3h30pm. More on that later.